Tim Chisholm wrote:
CHISHOLM: THE REASON BUTLER IS STARTING FOR THE RAPTORS

The easiest answer as to why he's starting is because he plays defence. No, he's not a stopper or a shot blocker, but he plays solid team defence. When Dwane Casey began implementing the new defensive structure that the Raptors were going to employ this season, he needed guys that could just run it without the inconsistencies that a fresh learning curve tends to provide. That's why guys like Jamaal Magloire, Anthony Carter and Butler were brought in this season - to provide the defensive neophytes with some low-mistake veterans to play off of. Butler knows where to be on defence, he knows where to rotate to, how to cover pick-and-rolls, how to handle back screens and how much pressure to apply to a ball handler. If you want an easy comparison to the values of what he brings, watch him play defence and then watch DeMar DeRozan play defence - while DeRozan is working hard to understand what is expected of him, he still makes tons of mistakes. Butler goes unnoticed for the most part because he simply moves to where he needs to be, so the fact that no one notices his play at that end actually speaks well of his performance at that end of the court.

Does that mean it's starting to become clear why Chicago gave up on James Johnson? I suppose he could become a useful backup to an alpha dog like Harrison Barnes. As for Butler, he's just filling a 1 year space in the tank.